Archers thread #187: Send not to know For whom the bell tolls, It tolls for Peggy. Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

All views on The Archers welcome here! New blood welcomed, and of course we are always delighted to welcome back former or occasional listeners/posters. We don't all agree on all points, although we do mostly try to be civil about it. Most of us are posting tongue in cheek a lot of the time, so don't worry about revealing that you'd like Harrison to hasten home, or other unusual views.

Spoilers: not on this thread, please! We don't wait for the omnibus to discuss the weeknight episodes, but we do try our best to avoid cross-contamination from https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/radio_addicts/4636789-the-archers-spoilers-thread-7-cant-wait-for-702pm-join-us-here, where spoilers are positively welcomed!

For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, @DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have - BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Thanks to John Donne for the title inspiration. The funeral of the century beckons. How much of it do we think we will hear? Kate confirmed tonight that Shula, Debbie, Noli and Sipho are all coming. If we hear one peep from any of them I'll be amazed. Bets on Hazel turning up?

Over to you!

I don't have much experience of recruitment so might be wrong to wonder, but is it really necessary to put Joy through the interview process that Fallon seemed so keen on?

I'm unclear on who out of Jolene, Kenton, Lillian and Fallon would need to okay it, but: they're closely related; are a private business; know and like Joy and her work (god knows why); have noted in the previous conversation that it's an employee's market and they're desperate - could they not just have a five minute chat together and then say "start tomorrow"? What would an interview add? If they think she's a fantastic worker but she stumbles over an interview answer would they no longer take her on? Why?!

(Long time lurker, occasional contributor, frequent NCer.)

Also surely she'd need more than an interview. I'm not all over the UK laws but here in Australia you have to have a Responsible Serving of Alcohol certificate to serve a drink. It can be done online but it has to be done.

Or is it down to the licensee?

She’s not working at the bar - just the kitchen

Most anaemic possible BOOP for Pip asking whether she was being unreasonable.

Hi SW we hate Joy thanks. Also Pip. But also well done things have been a lot better lately.

There was a line where Fallon said it was unlikely that Kenton was being robbed by Joy. OR FUCKING IS IT FALLON? Classic misdirection.

Howling (appropriate) at Joy coming to fight all the dogs 😂

If Joy is going to be working at the Bull I too demand that it is targeted by violent thugs - this time resulting in a single fatality …

And then can we discover her house was about to be repossessed - so she can’t leave it to her dreadful daughter or incomprehensibly awful boyfriend?

If The Bull is targeted by killer dogs I am sure Joy will feel the benefit of her time as a lion tamer in a Russian circus and the fact that still has her licence to kill from her days in MI6.

Rochelle needs to grow up and stop whining about being left home alone to deal with decomposing Alsatians. It's time she realised Joy only left her in order to acquire her portfolio of essential life skills. After all, who else is going to give Kenton electroconvulsive therapy for his PTSD?

I am genuinely completely puzzled about what is going on with the SWs and Joy. Why are they so determined to shoehorn her into every last corner of TA? Beechwood obviously, then the shop and now The Bull. Next time I tune in I fully expect her to be advising Elizabeth on the running of LL, taking over from Dane as manager of GG when he flees Ambridge pursued by Helen, joining the board of Damara, and buying Home Farm when the Gills move out.

I can see that characters often need someone to confide in so we can hear their thoughts spoken out loud, but why does it always have to be Joy they open up to?

Do the SWs not know that so many loyal listeners cannot stand her? Have they got so bored writing TA that they have secretly set themselves a challenge to see if they can turn a loathed character into a national treasure? Surely they can't believe that Joy is the magic key to pulling in the elusive younger listeners?

Or is our dislike of Joy on this thread out of kilter with the majority of listeners? Are we living in an anti-Joy echo chamber and out there in the real world people are writing to Feedback in their droves saying that the only thing preventing them listening to TA is that there is not enough Joy?

I simply cannot work this out.

who else is going to give Kenton electroconvulsive therapy for his PTSD?

Hold my pint and I’ll wire him up to the mains.

While you’re there - David needs his PTSD sorting too. Oh and don’t forget Alastair

i don’t know why Joy just doesn’t sit on a bench on the green and let everyone go to her to sort their mental health problems. Didn’t she fix Ben there?

I don't mind Joy. It has been good hearing more from longer standing characters recently, but Joy is okay.

I don't see why it's disappointing? When couples are separated by virtue of their jobs, surely it's the norm to visit each other whenever they get the chance? It would be more odd if Harrison just faded into the mists.

I took a solicitor dealing with the will to mean that he or she was getting probate. The sending out of emails was just stupid and I thought was simply SWs' error. Peggy must have had a reasonably substantial estate given that, for all she knew, she was going to have to continue to shell out around £10K a month for some time longer for her own and Christine's care home costs.

Agreed. I certainly found the Rochelle SL uncompelling and don't care if we never hear from her again, and equally I don't feel Mick adds anything. But I don't get the hate of Joy herself round here. Pip annoys me much, much more. Listening to her get Lesbian relationship advice from Kenton was ridiculous and faintly icky.

It’s the constant presence of joy that irritates and the sycophancy all the characters show towards her plus the ridiculous Rochelle mystery damp squib. I think she is a poorly written character too

its a bit like when the actor du jour is in everything and there comes a point where you just can’t face watching anything with him in. Over exposure

I feel like they’ve accidentally left themselves a slight dearth of mumsy characters to confide in now Jill and Shula are out of action and Pat is permanently twinned and not very interested in the rest of the village anyway. So we’ve got the sort of 50s and 60s crowd consisting of Joy, Jolene… Lizzy?

What about Ruth and Usha?

i really don’t think they needed to write in an agony aunt/jack of all trades/MH saviour

What about Susan - who through her familial relationships is crucially connected across decades to both the highest and lowest in the feudal hierarchy of Ambridge?

Joy is completely irrelevant to all of that, and it’s insulting to listeners to keep forcing her into our ears. We have absolutely no reason to care about her, and they can’t even share basic information like how she came to have the money to buy an ‘executive home’ with no visible means of support.

Yes, I agree, it’s the fact that Joy just appeared from nowhere as a character with no backstory and zero reason to be there, no connection to any existing character, and no compelling story. She’s just a blank.

For reasons unknown, they’ve now fixed upon her as the lynchpin of the entire village while the actual Archers - for whom the show is named FGS - are largely sidelined.

She had a brief episode of being infatuated with Tony, iirc, but since then has settled down into all-round sainthood - stalwart of the village shop, dispenser of wisdom to troubled Ben, panto/village show team member, baker of scones and disgusting-sounding chutney-filled Yorkshire puddings. Now about to become a fixture at the Bull. Plus lending a kindly listening ear to various troubled characters as needed, and spreading gossip when so inclined. Not to mention the ghastly Rochelle debacle. AND she’s responsible for bringing the tiresome Mick into our lives.

It's just too much. I object to having her forced upon me at every possible opportunity. And I cannot abide that cooing voice she does 🤯

I also think, whatever people may say to her face, the whole Rochelle business would make villagers wary of Joy - and not at all quick to offer her jobs requiring trust at the centre of village life. (I’m amazed she wasn’t managed out of her role in the shop, for instance, with all the unpleasant associates one might suspect Rochelle’s mother to have.)

I honestly don’t care about Rochelle being abandoned but I can’t forgive Joy for the dead dog.

I quite liked Joy when we only heard her in very small doses. The problem now is that she's in the cast list every week while we hear next to nothing from any of the Brookfield Archers, who are supposed to be the heart of the programme.

The SWs are cruelly taunting us. That’s why they named her Joy.

Agree, Joy was perfectly fine before this unaccountable phase (let's hope!) of ubiquity. Though after last night's episode I have heard more than enough from one of the Brookfield Archers.

I quite like Joy, but in very small doses. She is not forgiven for introducing Rochelle. I can just about cope with Mick (given he’s rarely on and she is allowed a slightly weird other half - I can see how he fits with the character). I really hope that there is a storyline behind her ubiquitous presence (one that allows them all to move far far away).